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Cost of visiting a GP

  • 30-10-2019 9:35am
    #1
    holyhead
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭


    It cost €55 to visit my GP in a small town. This seems steep. Obviously health is wealth so it does pay to go. Is their merit in the state paying half that to encourage people to visit their GP? I imagine the cost of GP visits puts people off going.


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Comments

  • #2
    Dr. Bre
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,741 ✭✭✭Dr. Bre


    My GP is 65 Euro. Getting fleeced so I try not visit unless really ill


  • #3
    ninebeanrows
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,780 ✭✭✭✭ninebeanrows


    You get half back with any reasonable health insurance.

    You can also get 20% back through tax, but i agree they should rebate at 40% tax rate, that would be fairer,

    There are online docs now for straightforward stuff and only around 30 bucks or free with health provider


  • #4
    gmisk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33,306 ✭✭✭✭gmisk


    55 is cheap IMO 65/70 seems to be norm in Dublin


  • #5
    Wesser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,813 ✭✭✭Wesser


    I paid e70 recently for a plumber to spend 6 minutes fixing a leaky tap. GP looks like good value in comparison. might do something that saves my life .


  • #6
    holyhead
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭holyhead


    I get 10 free doctor visits on my Vhi plan but not everybody can afford health insurance


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  • #7
    The J Stands for Jay
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,806 ✭✭✭The J Stands for Jay


    Sleety_Rain wrote: »
    You get half back with any reasonable health insurance.

    You can also get 20% back through tax, but i agree they should rebate at 40% tax rate, that would be fairer,

    There are online docs now for straightforward stuff and only around 30 bucks or free with health provider

    Hello! Would you be interested in this bridge I have for sale?


  • #8
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,153 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Wesser wrote: »
    I paid e70 recently for a plumber to spend 6 minutes fixing a leaky tap. GP looks like good value in comparison. might do something that saves my life .

    Virtually no GP will do a house call.
    Did you bring the leaky tap to the plummer's office?


  • #9
    Beeping Kitchen Appliances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 51 ✭✭Beeping Kitchen Appliances


    The money the state has comes from taxing the citizenry. Whether healty or sick. So people end up paying either way. Except people who get doctor visits for free.


  • #10
    EmmetSpiceland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,023 ✭✭✭✭EmmetSpiceland


    holyhead wrote: »
    It cost €55 to visit my GP in a small town. This seems steep. Obviously health is wealth so it does pay to go. Is their merit in the state paying half that to encourage people to visit their GP? I imagine the cost of GP visits puts people off going.

    Mine is €60, H. I’d only be going to see them mainly to get a “sick cert“ for work.

    I’m pretty sure there’s one young doc who is in cahoots with the chemist next door. If he prescribes you an antibiotic he’ll throw in a steroid and maybe some nose drops to go with them so you’re in for another 25-30 quid when you go in there.

    Still, that’s better than the one who tells you it’ll “clear up on its own” so you end up back there two weeks later almost unable to breath properly.

    But it’s all about the “cert” for me.

    “It is not blood that makes you Irish but a willingness to be part of the Irish nation” - Thomas Davis



  • #11
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'd rather pay it than have the situation like the NHS where people will go with the slightest sniffle because it's free and it takes 3 or 4 days to get an appointment.


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  • #12
    Ragnar Lothbrok
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,860 ✭✭✭Ragnar Lothbrok


    I grew up in England with the NHS, so the notion of having to pay for a GP visit appalled me when I first came to live in Ireland. However, my opinion has changed over the years - charging for the service ensures that time wasters are kept to a minimum.

    Most of the less well off are entitled to medical cards or GP visit cards, as are many people who suffer a long-term illness, so therefore very few people who genuinely need to visit the GP have to miss out.

    However, I believe that all students in full time education should be given a GP visit card and that all children under 18 should have a full medical card, regardless of their parents' income.


  • #13
    Plumbthedepths
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    The cost of the GP makes people who have to pay full whack think have I a cold or ebola, whereas the Medical/GP card holder throws on the jacket and rock up no matter what.


  • #14
    Plumbthedepths
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    holyhead wrote: »
    I get 10 free doctor visits on my Vhi plan but not everybody can afford health insurance

    It ain't free, it's part of your annual premium.


  • #15
    Geuze
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,724 ✭✭✭✭Geuze


    In France GPs charge 25.

    Everybody has health insurance, which covers 70% of the GP fee.

    So most people pay 7.50 effectively.


  • #16
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,153 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    I despise paying a GP, I always feel cheated - it's usually just for a prescription that I already know I need. It just never seems like value for money - perhaps because I've never found a really good GP (thankfully, I rarely need a doctor). And why do I always have to wait at least 20 minutes for a scheduled appointment?

    Conversely, I think €50 for a good physiotherapist is a bargain for 45-50 minutes of hands on work and expert advice and I walk in at the appointed time.


  • #17
    ToddyDoody
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,417 ✭✭✭ToddyDoody


    But you can't put a price on your health?


  • #18
    Cordell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,146 ✭✭✭Cordell


    The cost of healthcare is completely reasonable in Ireland, there are other problems, much bigger ones, but healthcare is not expensive.


  • #19
    Muahahaha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,688 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    My GP is 60 which seems par for the course. I do think it would be a good idea for the overall health of the nation that everyone gets one free health check a year where their bloods are taken and other tests done to detect illnesses early and thus avoid more costly hospital treatment down the line.

    I think GPs in general are reasonable for what they do. What you have to watch out for is the pharmacists, where I live there are three pharmacies in the town and they are all owned by the same guy- he went on a Celtic Tiger buying spree, probably to prevent competition and to ensure he has a drug cartel in the town. Got some meds off him a while back and it came to 78, was surprised at the counter but stupidly paid it. Next day I rang a Boots pharmacy about 15km away from me and they quoted 47 for the exact same meds. Never again will I darken the door of the local pharmacist, he is just ripping off an entire town.


  • #20
    171170
    Closed Accounts Posts: 321 ✭✭171170


    About 2.1 million people are eligible for either medical or GP visit cards - that's almost 45% of our population! I suspect that most of the remaining 55% are the hard working taxpayers who not only have to pay through the nose for seeing their GPs/obtaining prescription drugs, etc. but are also paying for the 45% people who aren't paying!

    What sticks in my craw are the wealthy over 70's who own their homes so don't have any mortgage/rent or work-related expenses, but are still eligible for Medical Cards due to the obscenely generous means test threshold.


  • #21
    Cordell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,146 ✭✭✭Cordell


    It's more expensive to treat them in the hospital when their condition becomes serious so it's better and cheaper to offer free GP care.


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  • #22
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Mine went from €50 to €60 in the past year, so a rise of 20% is very steep. My alternative is to go to a gp a bit further away who doesn't have a secretary (never mind 2 or 3) and keeps the cost at €45. I get the same amount back from health insurance regardless of how much I pay. I suspect one justification they have for raising the price is to compensate for the Under-6 GP visits card, for which they get €75 or so per child per year; I was certainly bringing my little ones to the gp for 5-10 times per year in their first two years of life so I have some sympathy for gps in this regard. But essentially, they've just shifted the cost of that government policy upon their fee-paying patients. One more squeeze on the squeezed middle.

    Now, if I didn't have to endure that poxy commercial radio noise in every surgery waiting room, that would be a real blessing. Perhaps the gps (and dentists) of Ireland could soundproof their surgeries so they don't have to hide their private conversations with patients by imposing all that noise upon those of us waiting next door in the waiting room?


  • #23
    reg114
    Registered Users Posts: 687 ✭✭✭reg114


    the beer revolu wrote: »
    I despise paying a GP, I always feel cheated - it's usually just for a prescription that I already know I need. It just never seems like value for money - perhaps because I've never found a really good GP (thankfully, I rarely need a doctor). And why do I always have to wait at least 20 minutes for a scheduled appointment?

    Conversely, I think €50 for a good physiotherapist is a bargain for 45-50 minutes of hands on work and expert advice and I walk in at the appointed time.

    When it comes to physios I can tell you from personal experience that it is prudent to have an mri on the injury before attending a physio. Certain symptoms can mimic a variety of injuries and you remove any doubt or misdiagnosis by getting a scan .

    On the GP front my GP is 40 quid and charges an extra tenner for bloods


  • #24
    Athdara
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Athdara


    €30 for my GP in a small rural village. He would have a “Rural doctor incentive scheme” payment so an extra payment that town doctors wouldn’t have & the HSE provides the surgery building but his attitude is that his “skills aren’t worth that much”- his words. So much so- he is now very busy with people leaving the town GPs and registering with him.
    Brilliant doctor


  • #25
    Lily_Aldrin7
    Registered Users Posts: 147 ✭✭Lily_Aldrin7


    I find it way too expensive, hard to afford on low income. I had to go to Caredoc once in the evening because I had hand foot and mouth virus and I needed a cert for work - I had to pay €70. My GP was so busy, the earliest appointment I could’ve gotten to was in a week...
    I knew I had the virus because I got it from my child and I didn’t need anything at all from the doctor, just a signature on a piece of paper worth €70...
    I’m glad children can go for free till they are 8 now and hopefully they won’t get sick too often after that 🀞


  • #26
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,530 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    I think the GP fees are fairly reasonable overall, esp considering I suspect their insurance costs are stratospheric.

    What I can't abide (and sorry for a slight derail) is that it's so difficult to shop around for medicines. Obviously everything is behind the counter, so there's no possibility of checking prices before buying without being a complete PITA. And then head off to the next chemist and do it all again? Or ring around every chemist in town to see who's dear and who's cheaper?

    Usually when I need drugs the last thing I want is the hassle of trying to shop around!

    How do others manage this? I have absolutely no idea if my local chemist (whom I have great time for) is completely ripping me off or not.....


  • #27
    corner of hells
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,409 ✭✭✭corner of hells


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    My GP is 60 which seems par for the course. I do think it would be a good idea for the overall health of the nation that everyone gets one free health check a year where their bloods are taken and other tests done to detect illnesses early and thus avoid more costly hospital treatment down the line.

    I think GPs in general are reasonable for what they do. What you have to watch out for is the pharmacists, where I live there are three pharmacies in the town and they are all owned by the same guy- he went on a Celtic Tiger buying spree, probably to prevent competition and to ensure he has a drug cartel in the town. Got some meds off him a while back and it came to 78, was surprised at the counter but stupidly paid it. Next day I rang a Boots pharmacy about 15km away from me and they quoted 47 for the exact same meds. Never again will I darken the door of the local pharmacist, he is just ripping off an entire town.

    A 30 km round trip to avoid paying 31 euros ?


  • #28
    wakka12
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,786 ✭✭✭wakka12


    ToddyDoody wrote: »
    But you can't put a price on your health?

    But you can put a price on when you walk in just looking for a prescription you know you need and they talk to you for two minutes and then charge you 65 euro. It should be priced based on the the time you spent in there. So many auld biddies in there chatting ****e for a solid half hour about every ache and pain to their doctors


  • #29
    Plumbthedepths
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    I think the GP fees are fairly reasonable overall, esp considering I suspect their insurance costs are stratospheric.

    What I can't abide (and sorry for a slight derail) is that it's so difficult to shop around for medicines. Obviously everything is behind the counter, so there's no possibility of checking prices before buying without being a complete PITA. And then head off to the next chemist and do it all again? Or ring around every chemist in town to see who's dear and who's cheaper?

    Usually when I need drugs the last thing I want is the hassle of trying to shop around!

    How do others manage this? I have absolutely no idea if my local chemist (whom I have great time for) is completely ripping me off or not.....

    When you go to the Pharmacy to have a prescription filled ask is there a generic version of the prescribed medicine. The pharmacist is required to give you the generic if one is available.
    Doctors usually prescribe by brand name.


  • #30
    shesty
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,914 Mod ✭✭✭✭shesty


    wakka12 wrote: »
    But you can put a price on when you walk in just looking for a prescription you know you need and they talk to you for two minutes and then charge you 65 euro. It should be priced based on the the time you spent in there. So many auld biddies in there chatting ****e for a solid half hour about every ache and pain to their doctors

    Have very mixed feelings about this.One the one hand, the best doctor in our practice gives people the time, and is the best doctor for that reason.On the other hand, she is impossible to get an appointment with ,and then when you do, you could be waiting over an hour before you get in to see her.However one of our other local doctors only has ten min appointment slots and no more...he will not give you more time than that and quite often will only discuss one thing with you and nothing more.I feel the first doctor needs to manage her time better but equally, everyone wants to see her because she will listen to them.It's a tough one to call.


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  • #31
    Pixel Eater
    Registered Users Posts: 486 ✭✭Pixel Eater


    A dental check up is free and a cleaning is only €15. Same for optician check-up. Maybe they could do something like that for GPs; a once a year visit for free (or a small fee, like €15) as long as you have the required amount of PRSI contributions.


  • #32
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,530 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    Plumbthedepths wrote: »
    When you go to the Pharmacy to have a prescription filled ask is there a generic version of the prescribed medicine. The pharmacist is required to give you the generic if one is available.
    Doctors usually prescribe by brand name.

    To be fair, the local pharmacist will always offer generics. One of the reasons I have a lot of time for them!

    I suspect they're not ripping me off, but it's the inability to compare that drives me mad!


  • #33
    The Tetrarch
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭The Tetrarch


    You are paying for a solution to your problem, if there is a solution, and if they can not treat you they refer you.
    I think charges are reasonable. Mine charges 60 euro.


  • #34
    _Kaiser_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,929 ✭✭✭✭_Kaiser_


    Live in a busy town and have struggled to get a GP at all, never mind a decent one.

    Of the two I've had to use, I ended up in A&E after the first one because he was more concerned with what unrelated tests he could charge me for rather than actually examining me for the problem I came in with (my clue should have been the empty waiting room when all others in the area were fully booked). €100 A&E charge + his fee for my trouble.

    The second one was a bit better but again just sent me to A&E for an X-ray that it turned out (8 hours later!) I didn't need anyway and which he could have at least saved me the time on if he'd written the damn referral properly.

    Paying €50 for that level of "service" when others walk in with minor ailments and pay nothing really sticks in my craw, but thankfully it's still pretty rare that I need a GP at all.


  • #35
    arctictree
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,338 ✭✭✭arctictree


    the beer revolu wrote: »
    Virtually no GP will do a house call.
    Did you bring the leaky tap to the plummer's office?

    Didnt they used to do house calls years ago? What happened to that?


  • #36
    theteal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    ReginaldSmythV wrote: »
    I'd rather pay it than have the situation like the NHS where people will go with the slightest sniffle because it's free and it takes 3 or 4 days to get an appointment.

    Ehhh, no it doesn't. Urgent issue will be seen on the day. You'd make an appointment for non-emergency stuff. Exact same level of service that I'm familiar with at home.

    My only issue with the NHS was the almost 4 months I had to wait for an MRI on my knee. The price was right though.


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  • #37
    171170
    Closed Accounts Posts: 321 ✭✭171170


    Cordell wrote: »
    It's more expensive to treat them in the hospital when their condition becomes serious so it's better and cheaper to offer free GP care.

    Are you aware that, sooner or later, mortality will catch up with them? ;)


  • #38
    Still waters
    Registered Users Posts: 1,166 ✭✭✭Still waters


    Im classified as being " well off " by virtue of being self employed, my gp visit card was taken off me a few of years ago, there have been times ive had to forego a visit to the doctor because i simply didnt have the price of it, either by not going at all or putting it off until i had the money, 50 euro for a vist here


  • #39
    Plumbthedepths
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    corner of hells wrote: »
    A 30 km round trip to avoid paying 31 euros ?

    My car does 55km to the gallon, makes sense to do the distance to save that type of money tbh.


  • #40
    antodeco
    Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,585 ✭✭✭✭antodeco


    My GP is €75 and is typically booked out for at least a week. I ring a week before I get sick, just to make sure.


  • #41
    moycullen14
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 890 ✭✭✭moycullen14


    Next time you're sitting in a GP's waiting room, think of the ways in which you are paying for the service:

    55 euro for the visit
    Income tax
    VHI or similar
    Prescription charges

    then think about how much the MC holder is paying.......


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  • #42
    Cina
    Registered Users Posts: 2,388 ✭✭✭Cina


    I think the fairest solution is free trips for U18's and over 70's (keep increasing it as life expectancy increases!) and a certain amount of free visits per year for everyone else, maybe 3. I don't think it's remotely fair that people with medical card's can go as much as they want for basically anything whilst hard working folk have to pay €60+ any time they go. Plus this way it would limit people on medical card's going in for daft things and clogging up the system. Win win.


  • #43
    Cordell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,146 ✭✭✭Cordell


    171170 wrote: »
    Are you aware that, sooner or later, mortality will catch up with them? ;)

    Only with them?


  • #44
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    I suspect they're not ripping me off, but it's the inability to compare that drives me mad!

    I wouldn't be so trusting of the local pharmacy, but I agree entirely about the absence of an ability to compare. I posted here months ago looking for cheaper online options, but didn't get many alternatives to going to the local overpriced pharmacy. I paid €28 for a cream in a Dublin pharmacy which took them 3 days to get in. It was all in Italian. They charged me €28 for it. I googled and found the exact same creme, in Italian, at the top of a google search for c. €10. The exact same. I'm aware of one small town where there were three licensed pharmacies and one went up for sale and the other two pharmacists purchased the licence to keep competition at bay.

    Also, I noticed recently that the size of some over the counter medicines are smaller than the size they give you if the gp puts it on a prescription - e.g. Nizoral over the counter is 100ml but if you get the gp to put it on prescription you are given the 120ml bottle and it is €4 cheaper. So much intentional obfuscation in the pharmacy and the related big pharma industries. If even one politician could get researching the profits and quotidian hoodwinking endemic to this sector, it would do society a great service.


  • #45
    Muahahaha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,688 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    corner of hells wrote: »
    A 30 km round trip to avoid paying 31 euros ?

    No round trip, I would be passing by the Boots in another town at least a few times a week so its not a diversion for me. Just shopping around and when one pharmacist is 78 and the other is 47 I know where Im going. The same pharmacist running his cartel in the town now has large posters of himself up with a gurning face in his shop windows, he is on the Tidy Towns committee, TextAlert scheme, etc so I'm fully expecting him to run for FF or FG at some stage in the future. Some might call him a pillar of the community whereas I'd see him as someone who is blocking competition and then ripping off the community. I'm not the only one whose noticed it, came up in conversation with a few neighbours and they also shop in Boots rather than the local guy.
    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    How do others manage this? I have absolutely no idea if my local chemist (whom I have great time for) is completely ripping me off or not.....

    Heidi best way is to just ring around. Chances are your pharmacy isnt ripping you off but next time you have a script with a few things on it ring another two of them to get a price and then compare.


  • #46
    wrangler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,224 ✭✭✭✭wrangler


    moycullen14 wrote: »
    Next time you're sitting in a GP's waiting room, think of the ways in which you are paying for the service:

    55 euro for the visit
    Income tax
    VHI or similar
    Prescription charges

    then think about how much the MC holder is paying.......

    A freind who is a GP tells me that they cannot service the medical card holders at what the HSE are giving them, he mentioned €27/mth for pensioners,
    Those who pay have to make up the difference....... if that's true it really pisses me off.


  • #47
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,028 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Self employed with no medical card so visits to my GP are rare


  • #48
    Greyfox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭Greyfox


    The Tetrarch wrote: »
    You are paying for a solution to your problem, if there is a solution, and if they can not treat you they refer you.
    I think charges are reasonable. Mine charges 60 euro.

    I think there too expensive and force some people to take there chances with google which is never good. The problem is most people are paying for them to do a job that can be done in 3/4 minutes. The problem is there should be a cheaper version when your just looking for a sick note or a prescription for the thing you got the last time you had the same problem. I've never needed a GP for more then 10 minutes so a cheaper price for very minor things would make more sense.


  • #49
    Thelonious Monk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,478 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    I've used a thing called video doc the last couple of times. You speak to an Irish GP and it costs 25e. It's handy if you just need some antibiotics or a sick note or something like that. Can't fault the service.


  • #50
    Trigger Happy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,104 ✭✭✭Trigger Happy


    £25 punts last time I visited...


  • #51
    Plumbthedepths
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    Thelonious Monk wrote: »
    I've used a thing called video doc the last couple of times. You speak to an Irish GP and it costs 25e. It's handy if you just need some antibiotics or a sick note or something like that. Can't fault the service.

    Standalone or part of a very expensive insurance premium?


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